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By Carey Reeder | Staff Writer

Boy Scout Troop 57, Cub Scout Pack 3057 and Girl Scout Troop 337 in Clanton hosted its annual pinewood derby event at Stokes Automotive on Feb. 19. Stokes Automotive and the scouts continued an ongoing relationship that extends back many years.

“[Kirk] Stokes, the owner, was a long-time scout leader, and we help sponsor some of their other events,” Stokes Automotive employee Neal Hoggard said. “It was a no brainer to host their event.”

While normally a Boy Scout event, the Boy Scouts opted to invite the girl scouts to make it a larger and more inclusive derby. Approximately 20 cub scouts, and a dozen Girl Scouts poured into Stokes Automotive to chase after the trophies.

“We invited them to join us to make it a bigger event and showcase what the scouts in the community are all about,” Greg Gault, den master of the Cub Scouts, said.

The Cub Scouts were broken into Lions, Tigers, Wolves, Bears and Webelos categories while the girl scouts were split into two groups; ages 4-7 and ages 8-13. Cars were weighed the evening prior to the derby to avoid any last-minute weight discrepancies.

Cars could not weigh more than five ounces, exceed 2 and 3/4 inches wide, or 7 inches long, and all materials used must come from the provided car kit. All scouts who attended passed inspection and were able to compete.

At the derby, the Boy Scouts were not racing for trophies and assisted with measuring cars, and running the cars through the races. Each group of Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts ran one heat to determine the fastest in the groups. Those cars moved on to the final run, which determined the winners.

The track was laid out down the center of the Stokes Automotive sales department. Stokes hosted the pinewood derby in previous years and were eager to rekindle their relationship with the Clanton scouts in 2022.

“Mr. Stokes reached out to one of our leaders with the boys scouts about hosting it again,” Gault said. “They wanted to showcase what this event means to the community.”

Landon M. took home the first overall trophy for the Cub Scouts followed by Reynolds W. who placed second overall. Landon and Reynolds each won the Webelos and Tigers groups, respectively, as well.

Liam Y. earned second place in the Webelos group, and also took home the best decorated trophy for the cub scouts. AJ H. finished second in the Tigers group.

Parker K. led the Lions earning first place followed by Matias P. and Kryos C. in second and third place.

Myles K. was the winner in the Wolves group edging out Carter L., who finished second, at the line.

For the Bears, Nick B. took home first place followed by Noah C. in second.

Esme C. won first overall for the Girl Scouts.

Esme earned first place in the 8-13 age group for the Girl Scouts followed by Avianna D. in second place. Natalynn M. took home best decorated in that age group.

In the rest of Troop 357’s races, Kaylianna P. won first place in the 4-7 age group followed by Kennedy K. in second. Kennedy also won best decorated car of the 4-7 age group.